Inside an electric/electronic apparatus, for example, a thermal conductive material has been arranged between a heat-generating electronic component and a heat sink such as a heat dissipation plate or a metal case panel to efficiently radiate the heat produced from the electronic component and to prevent the electronic component from overheating.
Particularly in recent years, an increase of calorific value caused by accelerated CPUs has necessitated thermal conductive materials having high thermal conductivity. Such thermal conductive materials have been produced by dispersing a filler such as ceramics within a base material such as rubber, resin and the like. The examples of such thermal conductive materials are those made by kneading vulcanized EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer) resin and ceramic powder or by kneading paraffin and ceramic powder.
However, conventional ever-solid thermal conductive materials (such as those made by kneading vulcanized EPDM and ceramic powder) cannot change their forms corresponding to the outer shape of the electronic component and the heat sink. Because of this lack of flexibility, there remain air gaps at the contact surface between the thermal conductive material and the electronic component, or between the thermal conductive material and the heat sink, thus reducing thermal conductive effect.